Ten years ago, when the contractors of Burj Al Babas started building buildings in a valley near Mudurnu, a small town halfway between Istanbul and Ankara, their aim was again to build one of the “mini cities”. of Turkey. Of course, Bazas had to be one of them. Unlike other Turkish real estate projects designed for the wealthy parts of the Persian Gulf, Burj Al Babas did not offer modern mansions or skyscrapers. No. His claim was more exotic: It would consist of hundreds of castles, more than 700, designed with a pastiche architecture that wouldn’t look out of place at Disneyland.

Ten years after construction began, Burj Al Babas is a well-known landmark within and outside Türkiye; But not for the reasons that the supporters or the families who came to buy one of the castles wanted. If it’s famous for anything, it’s being a ghost town; a remote valley dotted with hundreds of unfinished Disney-style castles.

Who doesn’t love a Disney castle?. The managers of the Turkish company Sarot Group, who decided to promote the surreal Burj Al Babas project, must have thought of something like this more than ten years ago. Surreal both how and where. What Sarot had in mind was to build more or less Disney-style castles, all nearly identical, replicas of each other, like scale replicas inspired by the Neuschwanstein castle, until each resident formed a village. “master of the castle.”

If that’s not enough, the project will include a large shopping mall inspired by the US Capitol, restaurants, a luxury hotel, beauty salons, spas and Turkish baths.

Burj Al Babas aimed to be a dream villa. And it is a resort with a clear tourist focus, based on a triple bet: its distinctive pastiche architecture, its luxury and the charm of its natural environment, Mudurnu, a town of no more than 6,000 inhabitants in the province of Bolu. Guard He states that the developers’ first goal is to market half of the 732 castles as timeshares to wealthy buyers in the Persian Gulf, and the rest to tourists from Turkey.

Castles with hot springs. It may not be as picturesque as the Disney castles, but the location chosen by the organizers is also a highlight of Burj Al Babas. Mudurnu is located in the Black Sea region of Turkey, halfway between Istanbul and the country’s capital, Ankara. It is no coincidence that Sarot is looking at the region where other projects are currently being developed. There’s a spring nearby that allowed the developer to add a luxury amenity to each of his castles: direct access to hot springs via a system of pipes.

As if this were not enough, there was the quiet town of Mudurnu and an environment full of pine trees. In fact, for the construction of the castles, it had to be built on a forest area of ​​6,500 m2, which the local people did not like. Burj Al Babas also offered buyers an additional extra that was particularly interesting for families from countries such as the United Arab Emirates: a mild climate with milder summers than those in the Persian Gulf.

And the work has begun. The project was promising on paper, so it didn’t take long for it to leap into reality. In 2011, the then Mayor of Mudurnu gave the green light to the Sarot Group to plan the construction of 80 castles in the region. The project owner’s expectations must have been good, because years later the company was allowed to expand the project until it reached astonishing figures worthy of a real mini city: 732 castles were mentioned, as well as extra services such as a shopping centre. . Although the idea of ​​Silent Mudurnu becoming a holiday resort did not convince all residents, its advocates argued that it would bring wealth to the region. Sufficient.

“People who were dissatisfied were never able to adequately understand the development,” says former Mudurnu council member Mehmet İnegöl, who once advocated for the project to move forward. Despite the drift of Burj Al Babas and the failure to fulfill its promises, İnegöl claims that he has no doubt that one day the opponents will be the “first ones to take their children to work” in the mega development.

Not everyone sees it the same way. Environmentalist and local resident Mehmet Cantürk recently complained: Guard the environmental impact of the works, the fact that the buildings ignore the architectural tradition of the region or the use of resources. There are those in Mudurnu who see the Burj Al Babas towers not as friendly Disney mansions, but as real “Dracula castles”.

Studies continue, marketing continues. Work began around 2014. For a while, they made more than visible progress and equipped the valley on the outskirts of Mudurnu with concrete facades and towers. The currently active project website includes a section documenting how work is progressing in its early stages. Not only this. Marketing also seemed to be going from strength to strength.

The possibility of owning a castle in Turkey has seen that the developer, who is admired in countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, is devoted to showcasing his dream city between Istanbul and Ankara. After all, they were promised that they would own the castle. Castles surrounded by castles are true; But after all, they are castles. There were even people who saw them saluting the famous Galata Tower or the Maiden’s Tower, both of which are icons of Istanbul.

Not all buildings sold for the same price. There were differences between them due to issues such as their location or whether they were more or less close to what were expected to be the busiest streets. You can still view the catalog on the promotion’s website. Still, whoever wanted to own one of Burj Al Babas’ whimsical mansions would have to contribute more than a considerable amount, between $370,000 and $530,000, according to data managed by Arch Daily. Jassim Alfahhad, a Kuwaiti colonel, is one of those enticed by the promise of development and now leads a group of about 150 buyers paying between $150,000 and $450,000.

From dream city to ghost city. The fact that work and marketing have already progressed hasn’t stopped Burj Al Babas from turning into something very different from what it was intended to be: a ghost town filled not with Disney castles but with abandoned concrete buildings that have faded over the years. before construction is completed.

The turning point of the project came in 2016 when the work stopped. Approximately 587 castles had been built by that time, close to 80% of the total, and were castles that their owners were never able to occupy. Instead, the dystopian landscape of Burj Al Babas has become a strange tourist attraction for lovers of abandoned architecture. youtubers They demonstrated the unfortunate state of urbanization with their drones.

Why did the project go wrong? There are many theories. Those who analyzed what was happening (and rivers of ink flowed in recent years) drew attention to both the internal problems of the developer and buyers, and the economic and political context of the country: debts, customer defaults. workers, operation cancellations, political tensions, problems with the contractor… Whatever the case may be, the fact is that Grupo Sarot declared bankruptcy in 2018 with the depreciation of the Turkish lira and 587. Half-finished castles have been left behind for a long time due to the despair of the buyers who gave them large sums of money in advance. reached a dead end.

New life at Burj Al Babas? More than a decade has passed since work began around Mudurnu, and more than five years have passed since the deadline agreed by the contractor to hand over the keys to the castles to their owners, and if Burj Al is known for anything today, Babas is an almost dream of hundreds of abandoned towers in the middle of Turkey It is known for its view like.

Of course, perhaps it is not destined to remain this way forever. Alfahhad, one of the Kuwaiti buyers, thinks it is possible: “We remain optimistic and believe that this will end soon.” Guard The former colonel, who, together with others affected, is trying to ensure that the issue is not forgotten.

signs for hope. In May, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Mashal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, and buyers hope the condition of abandoned castles will be among the topics they are weighing. A few months ago, in the summer, there was news in the Turkish press that an American holding company wanted to take over the old project. The question remains whether Burj Al Babas will succeed in becoming a city of Disney castles, as entrepreneurs once thought, or whether it will be doomed to become a disastrous cluster of Dracula castles, as some residents in neighboring Mudurnu see.

Images |Burj Al Babas and Google Earth

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